After Fed Cuts Rates, Biden Claims Credit for Economy’s Strength (original) (raw)
Politics|After Fed Cuts Rates, Biden Claims Credit for Economy’s Strength
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/us/politics/fed-rate-cuts-biden.html
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The president said he was not declaring victory over inflation, but marking a pivot point for the recovery from pandemic recession.
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‘Declaration of Progress’: Biden Hails Fed Rate Cuts
President Biden hailed the Federal Reserve’s move to begin cutting interest rates during a speech at the Economic Club of Washington.
No one should confuse why I’m here. I’m not here to take a victory lap. I’m not here to say a job well done. I’m not here to say we don’t have a hell of a lot more work to do. We do have more work to do. But what I am here to speak about is how far we come, how we got here, and most importantly, the foundation that I believe built for a more prosperous and equitable future in America. So let’s be clear: The Fed lowering interest rates isn’t a declaration of victory. It’s a declaration of progress. It’s a signal we’ve entered a new phase of our economy and our recovery. I believe it’d important for the country to recognize this progress because if we don’t, the progress we’ve made will remain locked in the fear of the negative mind-set that dominated our economic outlook since the pandemic began.
President Biden hailed the Federal Reserve’s move to begin cutting interest rates during a speech at the Economic Club of Washington.CreditCredit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Sept. 19, 2024
President Biden on Thursday hailed the Federal Reserve’s move this week to begin cutting interest rates, casting it as a sign of America’s economic health and evidence that a national price surge has largely calmed down.
It was an attempt to call a turning point in what has been a politically damaging chapter of economic policymaking for Mr. Biden — and to seek to retell the story of his economic stewardship in terms far more favorable to the president, after years of voters blaming him for high inflation.
Mr. Biden has struggled throughout his presidency to balance his desire to brag about his economic record and policies with a need to acknowledge voters’ frustration over the inflation surge that the nation experienced in his first two years in office.
It is a balance Vice President Kamala Harris also has attempted to strike in her presidential campaign, after Mr. Biden bowed out of the race this summer and she claimed the Democratic nomination. Her response to the rate cut on Wednesday was more muted than Mr. Biden’s, calling it good news for consumers but cautioning there was more to do to bring down prices.
In a half-hour speech on Thursday at the Economic Club of Washington, Mr. Biden tilted the balance slightly — but not entirely — toward claiming vindication for his aggressive attempts to stoke economic activity in the wake of the pandemic recession and his ongoing push to invest in domestic manufacturing. He was clearly spurred by the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to cut interest rates by half a percentage point, while signaling further cuts this year.
“The Fed lowering interest rates isn’t a declaration of victory,” he said. “It’s a declaration of progress. It’s a signal we’ve entered a new phase of our economy and our recovery.”
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